Microsoft’s last earnings conference revealed that Xbox now has more active users than ever before in a single month. Xbox Game Studios, alongside Bethesda titles, will be featured in tomorrow’s Xbox Developer Direct event, so this announcement couldn’t have come at a better time.
Xbox may be a newcomer to the gaming market, but it is still among the most widely used systems today. Microsoft’s recent years of dominance can be traced in large part to the widespread adoption of Xbox Game Pass, which has provided millions of users with convenient access to popular titles like Persona 4 Golden as well as Monster Hunter Rise. These successes have persisted in the face of adversity, such as redundancies, the present situation of Halo Infinite under publisher 343 Industries, and a complaint from the FTC over its purchase of Activision Blizzard.
During a financial conference for the company’s second half on Tuesday, CEO Satya Nadella said that Xbox now has 120 million active users each month. Xbox’s collaboration with Riot Games, which grants gamers exposure to Valorant as well as League of Legends exclusive features, has helped Xbox Game Pass achieve “historic highs” in memberships, he said. Nadella also spoke about the titles that are presently in development at Xbox Game Studios as well as ZeniMax, confirming that tomorrow’s presentation will have additional information on these titles.
About a week after Microsoft announced widespread layoffs, the company announced that they had reached a new record high in terms of active users. The gaming sector, which comprises companies like Bethesda Game Studios and others operating under the Xbox Game Studios banner, will be hit especially hard by these cutbacks. In spite of the dearth of original Xbox games during the previous 12 months, it seems safe to assume that Xbox Game Pass’s enduring appeal is a major contributor to these results.
The purchase of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft last year sparked a firestorm of criticism from regulators and the entertainment industry at large, and the company has been in the spotlight ever since. The roughly $68 billion in costs associated with the merger have just added fuel to the fire. Even with this acquisition and the revelation of these new highs, heavy condemnation of Microsoft’s management has not abated. Despite the continuing success, the Xbox brand’s image among the general public has been deteriorating, and it is up to those in authority to reverse this trend.
